And so...
Navero, male human cleric, 1st level
Dania, female 1/2-elf MU, 1st level
Rourk Ravensbane, male drow cavalier, 1st level
Kortul, male human fighter, 1st level
Razuli, male human fighter, 1st level
The party got itself reorganized; wounds were bandaged, kills boasted
about, Rourk healed, and the dead horses not mentioned. We proceeded
on foot into the big, spooky cave, looking for the Orc's treasure.
The first thing that the party encountered was the need for some
light; fortunately Navero had brought a lantern and a plentiful supply
of lamp oil. We walked past the smoking wood, and saw there was a
large vent in the entrance hall ceiling; our smoke was all going right
out. Further back in the cave we could see a rusty iron gate; behind
it there was at least one Orc, watching us.
Rizudo: "Hey kid, you got any more lamp oil?"
Navero: "Yes, I brought 4 flasks. Do you have a lantern too?"
Rizudo: "Nah, I'm just gonna show you something. Take the flask,
stick a rag in like this, light it, and throw it at the Orcs!"
Navero: "It'll blow up!"
Rourk: "A cowardly method of dealing with a foe. But these
dishonorable slime deserve it wholeheartedly."
Game Master: Rolls a save for the clay pot the oil is in; it doesn't
break. An Orc picks it up and throws it back.
Party: "Ahhh! Scatter!" (It doesn't break again. We ripped out the
burning rag and watched the Orcs run away.)
Dania: "Hmph. How do we get through the gate?"
Rizudo: "Well, first we gotta get over there. You wanna lead?"
Dania: "No. Why don't you?"
Kortul: "Hmph." (Walks across cavern to gate, stepping over a tripwire
which had been placed between two rocks.) "No one."
Rourk: "You have still not demonstrated how we might get through the
gate, o large and smelly one."
Kortul: (Kortul is a Mighty Barbarian Type. He wrenches open a gap in
the bars with his bare hands. The rusty iron bends and snaps
under his massive muscular force.)
Navero: "Why did you do that? The gate looks light enough to lift."
Kortul: (Checks. It is so. Sigh.)
Rourk: "Oh, bravo! You make an excellent manservant. I shall go in
first, naturally."
Kortul: "Better I go. Know caves better."
Rourk: "I recall that YOU didn't get much beyond the entrance."
Kortul: "You guard the rear, keep the priest and mage safe."
Rourk: "I think not."
Kortul: "Back there, munchkin. Let men go first."
Rourk: "You try my patience, barbarian. If you wish to repulse them
through sheer malodorousness, I will be the first to admit that
you have the advantage over me. But in the arts of combat I am
the clear superior, so remove your clumsy bulk from my path!"
Dania: "Look, will someone just go in?"
Rourk: "Shut up. You may guard the rear. Perhaps you can make up for
your previous failure some other time, when it is less vital to
the survival of these others..."
Rizudo: "Oh, hell." (Walks through gate.)
Kortul went after Rizudo, who was by now in a large natural
cavern. It was filled with piles of straw, rags, and other bedding,
sacks, and a great deal of smoked meat hanging near the south wall.
Obviously, it was some sort of communal living quarters. We came from
the west, and there were three other exits; one to the north, one to
the south, and a big one to the east. The one to the east was very
peculiar; someone had built a huge wooden barrier, with big iron
spikes smeared with a gummy resin running all through it. It was
angled so as to keep something from coming from the east into this
cave. Something big. We decided to leave it alone, and went to check
out the other caves. We decided to go south, but again, there was
some argument over Who Goes First, solved by Navero wandering down the
tunnel.
Navero: "Hello?"
Orcs: "GURTTIO!! KILLIT UNGOWA GITCHE GUMEE!!"
Navero: "eep!"
He wandered back very quickly, with about 15 Orcs on his heels.
Fortunately, these were all women and children, not warriors, and so
we had little difficulty against them. Kortul was hit in the face
with a soup ladle, and Rourk suffered badly knawed-on ankles.
Game Master: You slay all the women and children. Truly, a heroic
effort.
Kortul, by virtue of being closer to the southern entrance, took
the lead and we headed south. The passage branched into two tunnels;
we took the western one. The hallway went south-west until it widened
out into a chamber; the western wall was partially open to the
outside, and the corridor continued on to the south. Within the
chamber, there were great quantities of plants and fungi, growing in
the spongy earth that had washed into the cave from the marshes; many
small green pigs moved about in the room, lazily eating the plants.
They were too slippery to catch, and nothing else turned up in the
room, so we continued on.
The next room was a storage room, with lots of Orcish weapons and
equipment. Most of it was in poor repair, but a small alcove in the
south wall turned up some better stuff. Most of what we had was still
superior, so except to replenish supplies of arrows, we didn't take
anything. The passage continued to the north-east; Rourk took the
lead this time. The passage went north to a 4-way intersection;
northwards, it went back to the great hall. To the west was a small
chamber with charred walls and a chimney in the roof; we suspected
that this was were meat was be smoked. The eastern passage went east,
then divided into two more passages, east and south.
The southern passage led to a nearly circular chamber with many
markings on the floor; they seemed to represent some sort of cyclical
system, with a huge eye at center and spears radiating outwards to
other things in the circles - mostly unpleasant things. Navero felt
very bad about the room, so we left fairly quickly and went to explore
the east branch. This led into a room that seemed to have been
occupied by a priest or sub-chief; the furnishings were relatively
rich, although we couldn't find any valuables. Some grumbling
commenced as we returned to the great hall.
We went up north from the hall. After some searching through
some small, dingy and uninteresting rooms, we hit a trap. It was a
big pit that opened up under the lead party member (Rizudo) dropping
him fifteen feet onto a smooth floor. He was hurt a bit, but noticed
something down in the pit: a lever on one wall. He went over and
pulled the lever down; a large section of the ceiling crashed down.
It fit neatly inside the pit, providing a convenient surface the rest
of the party could walk over on, except in one spot, where it was an
inch or two high. So long, Rizudo. We mourned for the required
seconds, and Navero gave him the last rites, or tried to, and then
went about our business. The Chief's rooms were in the northern
caves, where we found a few trinkets, about 500 gp in loose change,
and a dwarven prisoner, who was unconscious and remained so all the
way back.
Dan Parsons "Orcs are very poor housekeepers."